Northern Lights Tour Reflection

What an incredible experience. There are few words to describe what it is like to see the Aurora Borealis dancing across the night sky.  It humbles you, yet at the same time provokes wonder.  You realize how beautiful the world really is, amidst all the chaos.

You get throttled to the present moment, and your trivial worries soon dissolve.

Life is all about experiences, and this was one of those experiences that I will remember for the rest of my life.  I still remember the feeling of the Arctic wind blustering, chilling my bones to the core.

It was a unique experience but quite frankly, the Northern Lights weren’t as vivid to the naked eye as they may seem in photographs. I don’t want to understate my experience; it was one that I will treasure for the rest of my life. But don’t be disappointed when you see them and they aren’t as colorful as you would imagine. The camera does a great job at capturing colors that our naked eye can’t fully receive. Instagram and Aurora photography are most definitely not reality.

While it was amazing to witness the northern lights dance across the sky, there were a lot of mundane moments in between. It was amazing viewing the fjords at night, with the lights of the city reflecting off the frigid water. Enjoy the journey and don’t always focus on the final destination.

This is a theme that has revealed itself a lot over this past year. I graduated from a Masters program, moved from the west coast back to Colorado, and passed my first section of the CPA exam.  While it is nice to focus on goals and achievements, don’t lose sight of the “in between moments.”  Often times, you will arrive, only to find out that these moments do not fulfill you, and are fleeting source of happiness.

Breathe it all in, be present now. That’s all we can do.  You might have not “arrived” and that’s completely okay. Life is a journey of permanent impermanence, constantly in flux. Enjoy today for what it’s worth.